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14026.9 miles

Yesterday I passed the 14K mile mark for riding this season. For some reason, every thousand miles seems like a new level. This is really the first year that I’ve kept track of nearly all the miles I’ve ridden. Probably in my whole life. I’ve tried to be pretty good about adding them when my Garmin is dead or I just don’t use it.

Back when I was racing full-time on the road, a long time ago, I’m sure I had a lot more miles. I have done up to 4 two week stage races in a season and each of those is easily over 1000 miles, so in just two months I’d have 4000 miles.

Anyway, I don’t know why, the number still seemed big yesterday when I saw it flip over. It is a little less than 40 miles a day, 365, so it really isn’t that much. The mileage is lower because I did ride pretty exclusively for a couple months on my MTB and the distance covered is about 2/3, or less, than on the road. I guess I’d be over 15, or maybe 16K if it was exclusively road riding. And it is with nearly 750,000 feet of climbing. Guess that is over 2000 feet a day average. Seems alright.

I really don’t have that many race miles. Not that many at all. That adds a ton of mileage with lower time. If you divide the miles ridden by the time, it isn’t even 17 mph. But, like I said, a lot of the mileage is off-road and that lowers it a lot.

Anyway, I’m hoping to add 100 + miles today. Adam Mills and I are riding out to the Swamis Saturday ride in North County and doing a lap of Lake Wohlford and then back. I’ve been feeling just so/so the last couple days, but need to get in a big ride before I have to face the cold again.

Yesterday I sort of rested and rode down to National City and back up through Coronado and took the ferry back to San Diego. I met a guy at the ferry station that had been touring in Baja Mexico. His credit card wasn’t working so I bought him a ferry ticket. Super nice guy, Nathan, from Urbana Illinois. He said he wrenched at Neutral Cycles, which is in a garage I guess. I hope to run into him again sometime.

Okay, I need to get dressed. The ride starts at 8 am and it is an hour and a half up there. It is still dark out, guezz.

Welcome (back) to San Diego! It was a beautiful day in the east county too. I got caught by and rode a bit with the Canadian women’s track squad near Descanso- great kids! Glad to see SD is on the destination list for many great riders from all over 🙂

nice, an injury in 2007 pretty much stole this portion of whatever “career” I had. No way you remember but I was a pack fill cat 1 in the day. Maybe 5 years of racing @ that level, then engineering and life took over. Pluses and minuses in everything a person chooses. You rightly chose 14K/year to the time you’re our age, I didn’t choose a ruptured brevis tendon. Dr E H sent me to a good surgeon in WI, it’s sort of all good. The original “surgeon” may be coughing up some of his cash based on recent probes there. He stole my cycling retirement, period. Been too busy with life to notice him until now. Our Family has his attention now.

Sorry to be so foreboding and fun suckish, but it’s 04:30 2015.12.20.04.30 and I just got up to pop a norco for the pain that still rips through this damn thing now and then.

Cheers Steve, to you and yours Happy Holiday’s. Make it 15K next year. If all goes well with the extraction of cash and now a third operation, maybe Shuler’s Bone ride for this old fart in 2016. See you there?

4 negatives? Jealous? Pathetic…. Why I wouldn’t race anymore even if I was healthy. Bike racers were the bomb back in the day. Today, I’ve stopped at a road race or to to re-live some stuff quietly and what I see in increasing numbers is per-madonas whiners and wannabes.

My 19 year old had a book I’d read her when young that was titled “Me First”. Reading it to our 5 year old today, and eventually our 18 month old. The mentality of bike racers today sort of strike me as the witch character in the book.

Sigh……..

Oh, here’s the 19 year old today. Just got in from USC last night. Merry Christmas Tilly, all else too. Got to go back to designing those dod parts now.

Just google his name. He has been riding +/-12hrs a day nearly every day for the last 11 months! He is currently 3000 miles away from breaking the world record for the most miles pedaled in 365 days. He also happens to be one my teammates. 🙂

Mr. Kurt is an even larger and more robust machine than Mr Chew, atmo. Then there’s that German dude that I can’t think of’s name right now. While we mentally masturbate here, the German and Kurt are OUTSIDE riding. Want to define HARD, go to like 1936 with that Euro who held the year record for like 70 years. Imagine, setting such a record on a bike you would see in some ancient museum…. with no fancy lights, GPS, crew etc? Makes 14,026.9/yr look like child’s play.

Of course that’s just my opinion, and that ain’t worth the $35 replacement keyboard it’s two finger tapped out on.

Lon Haldeman was a teammate of mine in the 1980’s. The only thing he was missing as far as a trainer was a roller bar on his rear wheel! Coming off Lon’s wheel for a town sprint was like… nothing else.